"[F]or
telehealth to become a reality, rehab professionals and patients/clients must
demand more of their personal and overall health care delivery systems,"
says Alan Lee, PT, DPT, PhD, CWS, GCS,
in a new APTA podcast titled Telehealth: Recent
Trends, the Importance to Physical Therapy and its Future.

Christopher Peterson, PT, DPT, hosts the podcast, the third in
a series on telehealth, which also features Bambang
Parmanto, PhD, and Tammy Richmond, OT, FAOTA. Lee, Parmanto, and Richmond
describe how telehealth practice may develop over the next 10-15 years and
discuss the opportunities for collaboration between rehabilitation
professionals. Specifically, Parmanto notes the development of common
telepractice among rehab professionals "to help toward sharing
technologies and sharing outcome data from the service being provided."
The group also addresses key areas that need to be addressed for telehealth
opportunities to become a reality, such as payment and licensure.